The first quarter of 2026 proved to be an action-packed period for the gaming industry, featuring everything from major installments of iconic franchises to bold new concepts from indie developers. The standout release was undoubtedly Resident Evil: Requiem by Capcom. During its debut week, the Japanese studio's latest title amassed over 43.6 million Hours Watched (HW) on livestreaming platforms. This massive performance ensures the game will remain a top contender for the biggest release of the year — a position likely only to be challenged by the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI.
In this article, Streams Charts highlights the most popular game releases of Q1 2026, providing a deep dive into their post-launch performance, viewership demographics, and regional trends.
Most watched game releases in Q1 2026
#10 Nioh 3
The return of this cult series from Team Ninja was a true celebration for fans of the masocore genre in 2026. During its first week, Nioh 3 racked up 4.6 million HW across streaming platforms.
While this number is smaller than Resident Evil’s launch figures, it still highlights the game’s extremely loyal and engaged community for a hardcore action title. Players and viewers were particularly drawn to the refined combat system, which now allows instant switching between guardian spirit forms to unleash spectacular attack combinations.
Viewers spent hours glued to streams as players battled new yokai against the backdrop of mystical Edo-period Japan. Notably, Nioh 3 set a series record for “deaths per minute” in live streams, proving that even genre veterans find its difficulty a serious challenge.
Despite its steep learning curve, the game continues to rank highly thanks to its deep character customization and a more stable co-op mode. The success of Nioh 3 reinforces that Team Ninja are still unmatched in crafting dynamic, challenging gameplay that’s perfectly suited for streaming audiences.
#9 Mewgenics
After many years in development, Mewgenics finally launched and quickly became a hit among fans of indie games and strategy titles. During its first week, the game generated over 6.1 million HW, an outstanding result for a project in this niche genre.
The title captured audience interest with its signature quirky visual style and an incredibly deep genetics system, allowing players to breed billions of unique battle cats, each with different traits and abilities.
Streamers and viewers alike were drawn to Mewgenics for its unpredictable gameplay loops and the developer’s signature dark humor. The game quickly sparked buzz across social media, with players sharing screenshots of their most absurd mutations — creating a viral effect without the need for big marketing campaigns.
While Mewgenics wasn’t designed to compete with AAA titles for peak concurrent viewers, it excelled in audience retention, keeping players and viewers engaged thanks to its highly replayable mechanics.
Read also: An indie title Mewgenics dominated Twitch viewership without relying on Drops or activations
#8 Quarantine Zone: The Last Check
The release of Quarantine Zone: The Last Check became one of the most surprising indie hits of early 2026, racking up 6.4 million HW during its debut week. The game quickly drew attention thanks to its grim atmosphere of “bureaucratic survival” set in the midst of a zombie pandemic.
Much of the intrigue comes from its checkpoint gameplay. Players take on the role of a checkpoint commander who must screen refugees using tools like an X-ray scanner, a flashlight, and their own intuition to identify the infected. Each decision carries weight, forcing players to make difficult moral choices — deciding who is allowed into the safe zone and who must be sent away for elimination.
The game’s streaming success was largely driven by what many viewers described as “Papers, Please on steroids”. Each survivor inspection plays out like a tense mini detective story, turning routine checks into high-stakes moments of suspense.
One interesting twist is that the game goes beyond simple document inspections. It also features full-scale base management, including the use of drones to defend the compound from potential threats. The project’s virality was further fueled by the game’s brutally unforgiving systems — players frequently shared clips where a single mistake triggered an infection outbreak and the collapse of the entire camp.
Despite some technical hiccups at launch, the title still climbed to third place in Steam’s sales charts, proving that an apocalypse-themed checkpoint simulator was exactly the kind of unexpected experience audiences were eager to embrace.
#7 Arknights: Endfield
The release of Arknights: Endfield from Mountain Contour — a development studio under Hypergryph — became one of the standout launches of 2026 in the anime RPG segment. In its first week alone, the game generated an impressive 7.5 million HW across streaming platforms.
The project immediately grabbed attention thanks to its unusual premise. Rather than a traditional RPG, Arknights: Endfield blends industrial base-building with action gameplay, tasking players with constructing large-scale facilities on the hostile planet Talos-II. This hybrid approach mixes action and strategic planning, drawing clear comparisons to systems seen in Factorio.
What impressed viewers the most was the stunning visual design and technical polish of a world where magical technologies seamlessly merge with futuristic industry. One notable phenomenon was the “automation boom” among streamers: top content creators competed to build the most efficient logistics chains for resource extraction, turning streams into highly addictive spectacles.
Although Arknights: Endfield is part of the broader Arknights universe, it successfully drew in an entirely new audience thanks to its ambitious scale and innovative gameplay. The release further solidified Hypergryph’s reputation as one of the most technologically advanced studios in modern gaming.
#6 Slay the Spire 2
The Early Access launch of Slay the Spire 2 was a landmark event for fans of strategy games, generating 7.6 million HW during its first week. The sequel to the legendary roguelike attracted attention not only for its updated graphics powered by the Godot engine but also for its radically new gameplay mechanics, including the debut of the Necrobinder class.
Viewers spent hours watching top strategists attempt to conquer the Spire, which had become even more unpredictable and challenging than before.
Slay the Spire 2 quickly became a streaming favorite thanks to its “bottomless depth” and endless deck-building possibilities. Interestingly, the game set a record for repeat viewings, with audiences returning to streams daily to watch top players complete runs on new Ascension levels.
While it didn’t benefit from the aggressive marketing campaigns of AAA action titles, the game showcased remarkable consistency in streaming trends, proving once again that polished gameplay often matters more than flashy effects.
#5 Marathon
The launch of Marathon by Bungie also proved to be a major event, generating 7.89 million HW during its first week on livestreaming platforms. Despite strong competition from Resident Evil: Requiem, the shooter still managed to set a studio record for a new IP in terms of active players.
The game’s peak concurrent viewership reached 250.4K during its debut week. At its peak, 4,724 streamers were simultaneously broadcasting Marathon across livestreaming platforms. The game’s viewership numbers could have been even higher, but many players had already experienced Marathon during its open beta tests in 2025.
Although Marathon trailed the market leader, Resident Evil: Requiem, in overall reach, it demonstrated the strongest audience loyalty, with viewers spending more time watching individual streaming sessions on average.
Read also: Bungie's Marathon becomes Twitch's second most popular game on release day
#4 Pokémon Pokopia
The launch of Pokémon Pokopia instantly won over gamers and Pokémon fans worldwide, generating an impressive 12.9 million HW during its debut week. The game stood out thanks to the long-awaited transition of the series into a fully open world with seamless co-op play.
Viewers were especially captivated by the new “Pokopia Town” mechanic, which lets players collaboratively build towns and develop ecosystems for their Pokémon, effectively transforming the game into a unique social simulator experience.
On launch day, Pokémon Pokopia led all family-friendly games in unique viewers, while streams showcasing “rare finds” quickly climbed to the top of platform charts.
While Resident Evil maintained its technical lead in the charts, Pokémon Pokopia became a standout success through its immense popularity among creators. The game’s phenomenal performance on streaming platforms reinforced the enduring formula for virality: combining collection mechanics with creative freedom.
Read also: Pokémon Pokopia: The new streaming phenomenon and the ultimate genre hybrid
#3 Hytale
After years of anticipation, the Early Access launch of Hytale became one of the biggest gaming events of 2026. The game generated more than 13 million HW during its first week, a figure that places it firmly among the industry’s heavyweights and alongside the most successful launches of recent years.
The project immediately captured players’ attention thanks to its unique blend of RPG-style adventure and near-limitless creative freedom, offering a sandbox experience that goes well beyond what the genre has traditionally delivered.
Both streamers and viewers were particularly impressed by the game’s integrated development tools, which allow players to modify the world in real time. In fact, Hytale reportedly set a record for the number of user-created mods in its first week, as the community quickly began building custom mini-games that further boosted viewer interest.
Although the title is often compared to Minecraft, Hytale has already proven it can stand on its own thanks to its deeper combat mechanics and richly developed lore. Its strong debut on livestreaming platforms suggests the game has every chance to evolve into one of the leading creative platforms in gaming over the coming years.
Read also: Behind Hytale’s Twitch peak: Top creators, sponsored streams and viewer demand
#2 Crimson Desert
The long-awaited release of Crimson Desert by Pearl Abyss was a definitive triumph, generating an impressive 27.2 million HW during its debut week. The project immediately vaulted to the top of the streaming charts, marking one of the most powerful action-RPG launches in recent years. The game captivated audiences with its breathtaking graphical fidelity and the seamless blend of a cinematic narrative within a massive open world.
Viewers were particularly enthralled by the dynamic combat system, which merges high-octane slasher elements with intricate combo mechanics. Streams showcasing massive boss encounters and the creative use of interactive environments quickly climbed the platform rankings, drawing in hundreds of thousands of concurrent viewers.
On launch day, Crimson Desert set a new benchmark for the dark fantasy genre, outperforming many competitors in unique viewer counts. While the title drew frequent comparisons to The Witcher, Crimson Desert has proven it can stand on its own thanks to its deeper world-interaction systems and complex political lore. Its phenomenal success on livestreaming platforms confirms that Pearl Abyss has created a technological gold standard that is set to influence industry trends for years to come.
Read also: Crimson Desert debuts as 2026’s second most-popular new game in livestreaming
# 1 Resident Evil: Requiem
One of the biggest new releases of 2026 has already been Resident Evil: Requiem, the latest installment in the iconic franchise from Capcom. In its first week after launch, the game generated more than 43.7 million HW across livestreaming platforms — surpassing the first-week viewership of any game released last year.
The success of Resident Evil: Requiem is reflected in several other milestones. The title earned some of the highest Metacritic scores in the franchise’s history and set a new series record for peak concurrent players on Steam. Just one week after launch, Capcom also announced that sales had surpassed 5 million copies, marking yet another record for the long-running series.
Compared to other releases in 2026, Resident Evil: Requiem stands out as a true giant. On launch day alone, the game generated 6.6 million HW across livestreaming platforms. The title also recorded the highest peak concurrent viewership among all new game releases this year, reaching 606.4K viewers at once. A similar level of dominance can be seen in peak channel activity: at one point, 16,956 streamers were simultaneously broadcasting Resident Evil: Requiem across multiple platforms — four times more than its closest competitor, Marathon.
Read also: Resident Evil: Requiem release — A new standard for horror and a triumph on streaming platforms
How has game popularity evolved?
The first week following a release is consistently the "harvest season" for any game on livestreaming platforms. After this initial peak, viewership typically sees a sharp decline. This is largely because most streamers complete the main story within the first seven days and move on to other titles. In the chart above, we’ve compared the statistics for the first and second weeks post-launch to highlight the audience retention dynamics for these titles.
The lowest churn rate was observed in Mewgenics, which saw its Hours Watched drop by only 42.7% in its second week compared to its debut. Slay the Spire II followed a similar trend of steady engagement. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Hytale experienced the most significant drop among the top 10 releases, with viewership plummeting by 71.4%. As the data suggests, while smaller indie titles may not rival AAA blockbusters in raw peak numbers, they often boast a more loyal audience that stays engaged longer. The situation with Hytale is particularly noteworthy: while its gameplay initially drew a massive wave of Minecraft fans, most did not stick around for long, quickly returning to their preferred "sandbox" instead.
As for the 68.8% drop seen by Resident Evil: Requiem, the reason is straightforward. As previously noted, the majority of top-tier streamers finished the game during launch week and ceased broadcasting it shortly after. Consequently, a sharp decline in metrics was a predictable outcome.
How did sponsored broadcasts influence the game rankings?
Sponsored streams remain a vital tool for promoting new releases, as developers partner with top-tier creators to showcase their titles and drive sales. Among the top 10 releases of the quarter, Arknights: Endfield saw the highest reliance on paid promotion, with sponsored broadcasts accounting for nearly 12% of its total Hours Watched during launch week. Marathon (8.7%) and Crimson Desert (6.4%) rounded out the top three in this category. For most other titles in the top 10, sponsored content represented only about 2% of their total viewership during the first seven days.
It is fair to say that these promotional efforts played a decisive role in the rankings. Specifically, the boost from sponsored segments allowed Marathon to edge out Slay the Spire II, while Arknights: Endfield successfully climbed ahead of Quarantine Zone: The Last Check.
Who is watching the top game releases?
Audience geography and demographics offer another compelling angle for analyzing new releases. For the top three titles of Q1 2026, the largest share of viewers came from the United States. This trend was most prominent for Crimson Desert, where U.S. viewership exceeded 30% of the total audience.
Resident Evil: Requiem saw significant traction in Japan and Taiwan, with these regions combined accounting for 11% of the game's total viewership. This can be attributed to the franchise’s Japanese roots and its massive, long-standing popularity across Asia. In contrast, Asian viewership for titles like Crimson Desert and Hytale remained minimal.
Hytale generated strong interest from viewers in Spain and Germany — countries with high concentrations of Minecraft fans. Given the gameplay similarities between the two titles, this geographic alignment is perfectly logical.
Regarding demographics, the split remained consistent across all major releases, with the male-to-female ratio hovering around 80/20. A slight margin of error exists due to channels without clear demographic markers, such as official game studio accounts and brand-led broadcasts.
Top-10 game releases in early 2026
| #
|
Game
|
Hours Watched (release week)
|
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Resident Evil: Requiem |
43 692 090 |
|
2 |
Crimson Desert |
27 191 663 |
|
3 |
Hytale |
13 013 960 |
|
4 |
Pokémon Pokopia |
12 961 634 |
|
5 |
Marathon |
7 897 587 |
|
6 |
Slay the Spire II |
7 655 539 |
|
7 |
Arknights: Endfield |
7 577 306 |
|
8 |
Quarantine Zone: The Last Check |
6 480 856 |
|
9 |
Mewgenics |
6 113 209 |
|
10 |
Nioh 3 |
4 638 070 |
FAQ
What was the most popular game release in Q1 2026?
Resident Evil: Requiem by Capcom was the most popular game release in Q1 2026, amassing over 43.6 million Hours Watched during its debut week.
How did Mewgenics perform as an indie game release in Q1 2026?
Mewgenics generated over 6.1 million Hours Watched in its first week, an outstanding result for an indie strategy game, excelling in audience retention.
What made Nioh 3 a notable release in Q1 2026?
Nioh 3, a masocore genre title from Team Ninja, racked up 4.6 million Hours Watched in its first week and set a series record for "deaths per minute" in live streams.
Which game was a surprising indie hit in early 2026?
Quarantine Zone: The Last Check was a surprising indie hit, achieving 6.4 million Hours Watched during its debut week with its "bureaucratic survival" theme.